


(Just A Little Faster) Show Me What You're After

by verucasalt123



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Book of the Damned, Brief Wincest, Charlie Bradbury Lives, Charlie is so done, Danger, Episode: s10e21 Dark Dynasty, Fights, M/M, Mark of Cain (Supernatural), Post-Episode: s10e18 Book of the Damned, Secrets, Translation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21964003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verucasalt123/pseuds/verucasalt123
Summary: It’s kind of ridiculous, but they both drive like morons without thinking twice about it. Sam thinks it’s because neither of them believes they could lose their life as a result of something so mundane as an auto accident.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester
Comments: 11
Kudos: 33
Collections: SPN J2 Xmas Exchange





	(Just A Little Faster) Show Me What You're After

**Author's Note:**

> For farkenshnoff, my contribution to this year's spn_j2_xmas exchange.

The torrential downpour has no effect on Dean’s speed as he pushes them down the highway toward the motel. It’s kind of ridiculous, but they both drive like morons without thinking twice about it. Sam thinks it’s because neither of them believes they could lose their life as a result of something so mundane as an auto accident.

Dean’s quiet now. This is fine with Sam, because he’s kind of done with being yelled at for the moment. He knows everything Dean’s thinking, though. _You betrayed me. You disregarded my choice. You lied to me. You put people we care about in danger._ Yeah, Sam knows all those things because he’s thought them too, many times. He’s still not a hundred percent past what happened with the angel last year, though his forgiveness is genuine. 

Sam pulled Charlie into this. As he recalls explaining to her that he can’t live this life without his brother, that he didn’t want to, a decade-old conversation pops into his mind. It’s a small exchange, close to being forgotten over the years. It’s Dean, saying pretty much the same thing Sam had tried to explain to Charlie while he was trying to recruit her.

_I can’t do this alone._

_Yes you can._

_Yeah, well I don’t want to._

He’s not sorry. He knows he should be, and he knows he might be sorry later. But he might not. When the prize is _save Dean_ , Sam’s eyes are glued to it. Ever since his stint as a soulless man, he’s less and less concerned about collateral damage. He did have to take that guy on as a part of him, after all. He didn’t have any choice about that.

Sam’s a better hunter when he narrows his focus to caring only about himself and his brother. Maybe he’s not a better person, and he tries not to put those blinders on too terribly often. Right now, though...well, the aim is fairly clear. 

The door to the motel room is wide open when they skid to a stop in the parking lot. There’s not an ounce of stealth involved in running through the rain and into the room. Sam’s eyes go directly to the back of the room, and he knows that Dean’s do as well. Eldon Frankenstein’s shadow blocks most of the doorway to the bathroom, though a sliver of Charlie’s bright red hair can be seen backed up against the wall. 

It’s clearly too late for her to follow their _give them whatever they want_ advice now. If he’s being honest with himself, Sam knows Eldon or one of his relatives would have killed her even if she handed over the translation plus a million dollars on a silver platter. The fucking Styne family doesn’t leave witnesses, that’s what put them on their damn trail to start with. 

Anger rushes over Sam, he can feel his own pulse, his blood pumping, his deep breaths. He barely registers Dean shouting at Charlie to get down before they both empty their magazines into the back of Eldon’s head. 

As Eldon hits the floor, unmoving, Sam gets his first good look at Charlie. She’s flush against the back wall, not an inch to move, but holding a sizeable dagger. Most importantly, there’s not a scratch on her. Her weird computer is smashed to bits in the bathroom sink.

Dean rushes forward to put his arms around her, but she pushes him away and walks between them back out to the main part of the room. Throwing the knife she’d been holding onto the bed, she starts packing up. Sam was hoping for her usual witty comments they’d become used to hearing when Charlie had been in danger, but there was no such luck. 

Turning around, she begins with Sam. “You are replacing my Surface. I sent you an email with my decoder, so I smashed the machine before the bad guy got a chance to figure it out. So, you get me another one. I think there might even be an updated model.”

“Charlie, whatever you want, I - yeah, I’ll...wait, you figured out how to decode it?”

Her voice gets louder and Sam’s glad she’s not holding the knife anymore. “Of course I figured it out, for God’s sake, Sam, don’t be ridiculous. Also, you will not - and I am so very fucking serious right now - you _will not_ keep any more secrets from your brother about this.”

Sam knows it’s already a little too late for that anyway, Dean obviously already knows what they’d been planning all this time. And Charlie’s using swear words, which can only mean she’s more angry than he ever thought she was capable of being. 

Fortunately for Sam, she turns her narrowed eyes to Dean. “And you. Let me tell you what we’re doing. You’re going to bring me back to that smartass witch. I’ll use my decoder, and she’ll use the big creepy book with the skin pages, and we’ll get that damn thing off your arm. Don’t even attempt to argue with me. This is twice now I was almost murdered over that book.”

Dean attempts to interject his point about consequences for using the Book of the Damned, but he barely gets a few words out. 

“I said don’t argue with me! I haven’t been risking my life over this bullshit just to give up on it now. We’ll use it. Something terrible might happen, maybe more than likely something terrible will happen. But look at you! Look at what’s happening to you right now. I’m not losing you over that damn Mark on your arm. We’ll deal with that when it happens. Now, both of you quit being assholes and let’s go fix this thing.”

And this is how all of it starts. Charlie and Rowena form an uneasy truce that will one day turn into a real friendship. She comes to visit them more often in the Bunker, even staying for a few days at a time. She helps out from wherever she’s currently living or from the map table, but she never physically goes out on a job again. Over the years, there are times when she’s tempted to offer and times when the Winchesters are tempted to ask. It never happens, though, and they all know it’s right. So she’s there to meet Mary, and she’s there to patiently explain Star Wars to Jack, and she’s there to lay eyes on her Apocalypse World double. 

Charlie saves their asses more times than Sam can count without ever picking up a weapon and he thinks he’ll never be able to properly thank her for it. And then one day she stops in the kitchen doorway and catches him pinned against the wall by Dean, hips grinding and hands wandering. 

She gives him a beaming grin, a wink, and a thumbs up as she silently backs away. There’s no judgment, only love and what Sam is sure to be some incredibly corny jokes coming his way in the future. But Charlie’s the reason they have a future, so Sam’s pretty sure he can endure it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] (Just a Little Faster) Show Me What You're After | By Verucasalt123](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29072331) by [ladygizarme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygizarme/pseuds/ladygizarme)




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